Daylighting fills all the rooms and there is an immediate connection with the outdoors.

In 2011, Andrew R, a Canadian entrepreneur, contacted NL Architects to request their services in designing a home in Del Ray Beach, Florida. He had plans to remove the existing 12,000 sq ft mansion and construct a smaller contemporary beach front home. As he told NL Architects, “I have researched a number of highly successful up and coming contemporary architects with world- wide acclaim, and feel that the work of NL Architects exemplifies the vision I have in mind for my future home.” The flattery worked, so NL Architects set right to work on designing Andrew R.’s new home centered around the vision of the pool and home being one.

They came up with a number of designs including the Drob Blob, a series of kidney-shaped pools that weave down toward the beach, and then the Pool House, which is a large square volume with pool’s geometry creating inverted domes below. Glass walls form the exterior of the designs while the pool’s shape above informs the space and creates the rooms. Daylighting fills all the rooms and there is an immediate connection with the outdoors. NL Architects also designed a version that was inspired by terraced rice fields and is a tall pyramid like house. There’s also a version where the roof is an infinity pool and the water flows over the edges—further adding to the cooling factor.

We aren’t especially keen on the idea of tearing down a big house to replace it with another one, but the ideas that NL Architects are proposing are certainly interesting. A pool topped home minimizes the footprint of the developed space, leaving more for landscaping and nature. In addition, the pool is a layer of protection and could reduce heat gain into the home. The cooling effect may even be enough to eliminate air conditioning all together.